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[Queen Anne] residents cling tenaciously to steep slopes, hunker down on the relatively flat top and boast, with few dissenters, that they command the most outstanding views in a city that prides itself on spectacular vistas.” –“Queen Anne Hill Seattle’s Miniature Mountain,” Seattle Times (Duncan 1979)”

The Matzen residence at 320 West Kinnear Place was constructed in 1910 – 1911. George Matzen was the owner and president of Matzen Manufacturing Company, a clothing manufacturer in Pioneer Square. He and his wife Irene occupied the house on the south slope of Queen Anne from 1910 until sometime in the 1930s. …Continue reading “320 West Kinnear Place: Matzen Residence”→

The impact of Seattle’s streetcar lines on Queen Anne’s commercial development continues to be part of our daily lives. Even today, following the historic #24 streetcar route, the one that ran up the Counterbalance around a couple of corners and down Sixth to its terminus at W. McGraw, finds us still shopping in historic buildings all along the way. The active stores like Macrina Bakery, Top Pot Doughnuts or Molly Moon delight us still, but the abandoned ones, like the three at 1828, 1834 and 1900 6th Ave. W. at of W. Howe, draw my eye every day.

All three stores are on the east side of the wider street and were obviously built in response to the 1902 completion of the streetcar line. According to the city’s historic side sewer cards, the shop at 1828 connected to the sewer in 1909 while the one at 1834 on the southeastern corner of W. Howe tied up in 1910. The oldest of the three at 1900 6th Ave., connected in 1904 barely two years after the streetcar arrived. Oddly, we don’t learn the name of the shop owner until 1907. Unlike the great majority of the brick clad stores that survive today, these three are two-story wooden structures with at least one apartment over the shops. Fortunately, we have photographs of all three in 1937 and the early 1950s. The 1937 photos were snapped by an under-employed designer working for the Depression era Works Progress Administration. …Continue reading “Changing times, changing looks: The Wooden Stores at Sixth W. and W. Howe”→

Born and raised in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, Arne Zaslove studied at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh beginning in 1957, and received a Fulbright scholarship to support his theatrical studies in Paris, France 1964-66 — the first American ever to study at Ecole Jacques Lecoq.

He moved to Seattle in 1967 to begin his service on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Drama, and established the Floating Theatre Company, performing at venues throughout Seattle. He also taught at the National Theatre School of Canada 1972-74. From 1974-76, Seattle Repertory Theatre employed him as Associate Artistic Director. Arne introduced Seattle audiences to new works from emerging playwrights of the time including Max Frisch, Robert Lowell, Michael Ondaatje, and Tom Stoppard. …Continue reading “Arne & Claire Zaslove”→